NTT DoCoMo and Ericsson announced that in a joint 5G technologies trial, the companies achieved a cumulative 20Gbps of data throughput in an outdoor environment using the 15GHz frequency band with two simultaneously connected mobile devices of a downlink bit rate of over 10Gbps each, on February 21.

The data speed satisfies one of the key requirements for future 5G commercial
services.

The companies also succeeded in a separate trial on February 21, data
throughput exceeding 10Gbps at a distance of approximately 70 meters from the
base station, or about 7 times farther than the distance achieved in a past
trial. Moreover, the data transmission exceeding 9Gbps at a distance of about
120 meters from the base station was also succeeded.

5G will use high-frequency bands, which are inclined to experience
attenuation in speed and capacity as they travel over long distances.

The trial, which took place at the DoCoMo R&D Center in the city of
Yokosuka, Japan, utilized a specification defined jointly by DoCoMo and
Ericsson, and an Ericsson 5G Radio Prototype and user devices, in place of
mobile phones, from Ericsson.

The data speeds were achieved thanks to multi-beam multiple-input
multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which increases data speeds by multiplexing
radio waves simultaneously. Also, by utilizing a beam-forming technique that
incorporates beams, each one consisting of 64 antenna elements to converge
highly directional long-distance signals on a single target, the cumulative
20Gbps throughput was successfully transmitted.